Head of Household - unmarried couple with a child who are living together

[runbullrun]

I have 2 new clients. They had a child together in 2020 and are living together but not married. The mother is claiming the child as a dependent. However, the father pays most of the bills in the home. Is it possible for him to claim Head of Household? All the rules I read around Head of Household is "you must have a qualifying child". I'm a little fuzzy on "must have a qualifying child" and "must actually claim" a qualifying child. Is it possible for one to claim the child as a dependent and the other (not both) to claim Head of Household? One of the reasons I ask is ProSeries next to checkbox for  Head of Household Filing status - "If Qualified person is child but not a dependent". 

Thanks in advance. 

[jeffmcpa2010]

First you might want to use this tool 

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/whom-may-i-claim-as-a-dependent

and determine who is "entitled" to claim the child as a dependent.

then use this one https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/what-is-my-filing-status to determine filing status.

[runbullrun · Accepted solution]

Thank You. It did answer my question - here was my result - the last paragraph answered the question. 

Sometimes, a child meets the relationship, age, residency, support and joint return test to be a qualifying child of more than one person. Although the child is a qualifying child of each of these persons, only one person can actually treat the child as a qualifying child to take all of the following tax benefits (provided the person is eligible for each benefit).

• The child tax credit;
• Head of household filing status;
• The credit for child and dependent care expenses;
• The exclusion from income for dependent care benefits; and
• The earned income credit.

You cannot take any of these benefits based on the person unless you claim that person as a dependent. In other words, you and another person cannot divide these tax benefits for the person between you.

[qbteachmt]

Here is an IRS link, with topics and bookmark links:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/get-ready-for-taxes-bookmark-irsgov-resources-and-online-tools-to-use-b...

There are Interactive Tax Wizards accessed there, such as Filing Status and Dependents and various Credits.

[TAXOH]

Just out of curiosity, what was your conclusion on the specifics you mentioned?

[runbullrun]

That only one person can actually treat the child as a qualifying child to take all of the following tax benefits (provided the person is eligible for each benefit).

• The child tax credit;
• Head of household filing status;
• The credit for child and dependent care expenses;
• The exclusion from income for dependent care benefits; and
• The earned income credit.

If you have any other thoughts on the matter I welcome them. 

Thanks, Gregg

[TAXOH]

They both need to file as single and since they are not married she would still qualify for all those other benefits you listed as long as both the mother and father are agreeable.  If not, then the tiebreaker rules apply and the father would get the exemption and file head of household and mother single not claiming child.